So that we may begin to have some understanding of Him
Allah has set forth, in the Holy Quran, ninety-nine of His Divine Attributes.
Allah Almighty is infinite.....and since we, as humans are limited in
understanding, we can only just begin to grasp His All-encompassing,
All-pervading
All-powerful nature.
These attributes are called al-asma' al-husna (The Beautiful Names).

The following explanations of each Divine Name are from Maulana Shaykh Nazim.

AR-RAHMAN: The Beneficent

"He is the one who wills mercy and good for all creation, at all times.
He doesn't distinguish between the good and the bad one, the obedient
and the disobedient, believer or unbeliever. Through His Divine Justice
He gives a chance to everyone to reach everything through this life.
He is Compassionate and Beneficent to all creatures."

AR-RAHIM: The Merciful

"He is the one who rewards the good servants, the obedient ones,
the believers. That is also signing His justice, because the ones
putting their ego under their feet are not like those dominated by
their ego.

RAHMAN is mercy upon the nafs, the worldly being, giving sustenance
in this world.
RAHIM is mercy upon the heart, giving eternal salvation in the
Hereafter."

AL-MALIK: The Supreme Ruler or The Sovereign Lord3>

"He is the absolute Owner and Ruler of the universe.
Absolute greatness for Him. He is not in need of anything or anyone.
No one reaches to understand His divine essence."

AL-QUDDUS: The Holy

"He is absolute pure, devoid of blemish, shortcoming, weakness,
heedlessness or error. His essence, attributes, names, words,
actions and justice are pure. He is not resembling His creation
in anything and free from anything anyone may imagine about Him."

AS-SALAM: The Saviour or The Source of Peace

"He is absolutely perfect in His essence and attributes and all
His works have sense and wisdom. He is the one who saves believers
from dangers and trouble."

AL-MU'MIN: The Guardian of Faith

"He is Illuminator of the light of faith in hearts, making us
believers. He is the Comforter and Protector of the ones who take
refuge in Him."

AL-MUHAYMIN: The Protector

"He is the Protector and the Guardian. He is the one who sees
to the evolution and the growth of His creation, leading them where
they are destined to go. Nothing escapes His attention for moment."

AL-AZIZ: The Mighty, the Victorious

"He is the Victorious one whom no force can overwhelm. But He does not
hurry to destroy the one who persists in revolt and sin."

AL-JABBAR: The Compeller

"He is the Repairer of the broken, the Completer of the lacking,
the one who can enforce His will without any opposition."

AL-MUTAKABBIR: The Majestic, the Greatest

"He is the Greatest, and greatness belongs only to Him. He will
humiliate the proud, making him lowest of low, and bless the humble one."

AL-KHALIQ: The Creator

"He is the one who creates from nothing, and creating at the same time
the states, conditions and sustenance of all that He has created.
He establishes how, when and where creation will take place. He created
everything in goodness and wisdom. He doesn't need the creation,
nor does He receive any benefit from it. Nothing was lacking or missing
before He created the creation, and after the creation nothing was added
or diminished. He created everything for man and man for Himself."

AL-BARI: The Inventor or Evolver

"He is the one who orders His creation with perfect harmony.
Everything is harmonious within itself and in accordance with
everything else. He gave to you intelligence and freedom of will
and choice."

AL-MUSAWWIR: The Designer or The Fashioner

"The perfect artist who gives everything the most unique,
beautiful and perfect form and shape. When He creates He just says
"BE"
and a whole universe becomes........."

AL-GHAFFAR: The Forgiver

"He is the one who accepts repentance and forgives.
Repentance is between you and Allah and must be accompanied
by the firm intention not to do the sinful act again.
The sign of acceptance of your repentance and the accordance
of forgiveness by Allah is that he will not let you repeat
that sinful act again."

AL-QAHHAR: The Subduer

"He is the Ever-Dominating one, who has surrounded all His creation
from without and within with His irresistible power. Nothing can
escape Him."

AL-WAHHAB: The Benefactor or The Bestower

"He is the donor of all, without conditions, without limits,
without asking any benefit or return, giving everything to everyone,
everywhere, always. He gives money to the poor, health to the sick,
children to those who are barren, freedom to the trapped, knowledge to the ignorant.
When He gives to you, no one can prevent that good from coming to you.

AL-RAZZAQ: The Sustainer or The Provider

"Sustenance is needed to maintain the creation. There is a physical
and a spiritual Sustenance."

AL-FATTAH: The Opener

"He is the Opener and the Solver, the Easer of all that is locked,
tied and hardened."

AL-ALIM: The Knower or All-Knowing

"He is the one who knows all........past, present and future,
and there is no limit to His knowledge."

AL-QABID and ALL-BASIT: The Constrictor and The Expander

"He is the one who constricts and He is the One who releases. At the
times of constriction, your nafs and your flesh will suffer, but your
essence should balance that state with patience, which is the companion
of faith. That time may strengthen your faith and bring you closer
to Him.
In periods of comfort and ease, when all is going well you should be
thankful to Allah. Keep a balanced state with the knowledge that
all good and bad comes from Allah and that a fine wisdom is in His judgment."

AL-KHAFID and AL-RAFI: The Abaser and The Exalter

"He is the Abaser and the Exalter. He exalts the good ones and He makes
down those who let their egos ride on them."

AL-MU'IZZ and AL-MUZILL: The Honorer and the Dishonorer

"He is the one who honours and the one who humiliates."

AS-SAMI: The All Hearing

"He is the one who hears all... that which comes from the lips,
passes through minds, is felt by the hearts.........
the rustling of leaves in the wind,
the footsteps of the ants
and the atom's moving through the 'void'.
It is an attribute of perfection, absolute perfection,
which does not depend on means, conditions, or limitations.
He hears and registers, understands, satisfies, answers, responds and corrects."

AL-BASIR: The All Seeing

"He is the one who is all-Seeing. He sees the past, the present
and the future.
We cannot see Him, but He is seeing our outside
and what is in our minds and hearts."

AL-ADL: The Just

"He is the absolute justice. Both good and bad are necessary,
Allah shows one with the other, the right against the wrong,
and shows us the consequences of each, then He leaves us free
to use our own judgment. One often needs to experience and to know
the opposite of a thing in order to understand it.
We must be thankful for the good and accept,
without personal judgment or complaint,
that which doesn't seem to be good."

AL-LATIF: The Fine, Subtle One

"He is the most delicate, fine, gentle, beautiful one.
He is the maker of a delicate beauty hidden in the secrets
of the beauties of the soul, the mind, wisdom, the divine light."

AL-KHABIR: The Aware

"He is aware of the hidden inner occurrences in everything....
nothing can escape His attention. He knows your most secret needs
and wishes, your thoughts and actions."

AL-HALIM: The Forbearer, or The Forbearing One

"He is forbearing in the punishment of the guilty. He waits...
giving time to the sinner to realize his guilt,
to regret, change, repent.....
and compensate for the harm they have done, so that he may forgive them
and transform them into good servants rather than destroy them."

AL-AZIM: The Great One

"HE is absolutely and perfectly great. He is in need of nothing.
We cannot understand His greatness nor imagine it."

AL-GHAFUR: The Forgiving one

"He is the most forgiving one, hiding our faults and treating them
as if they had never existed. If He didn't hide our faults,
adverse opinions, ugly thoughts and hateful feelings,
everyone would run away from everyone else."

ASH-SHAKUR: The Thankful, The Benefactor, The Appreciative

"He is the one who repays a good deed with a much greater reward.
Thankfulness is to return good with good. The thankful one knows that
all he is and all he has is from Allah."

AL-ALI: The Highest One

"His being high cannot be measured by the limited human intellect
or imagined. Nothing is like Him."

AL-KABIR: The Most Great

"His greatness stretches from before the beginning.............
until after the end............
There is no difference for Him between the creation of an atom
and the infinite-seeming universe.
The fear of Allah is a fear that is an outcome of loving Him----
wishing to be loved by Him and fearing to lose His love,
to face His disappointment in you or His anger."

AL-HAFIZ: The Preserver

"He is aware of, remembers and keeps in His memory all that you do,
or say, and think at all times. He preserves all.........
nothing is lost.
In His preservation, there is also protection.
As a blessing He sent His prophets and books to teach wisdom,
intelligence, the divine law to protect man from material and spiritual harm."

AL-MUQIT: The Nourisher, The Maintainer

"He creates the nourishment of all creatures. The sustenance due to one
will not run out until death overtakes him. He gives nourishment
without being asked to the ones who cannot ask and work for their own
nourishment. For the ones who can, He created means of sustenance."

AL-HASIB: The Accountant, The Reckoner

"He is the one who takes account of all and everything that His creation
does or is subjected to. On Judgment Day we will have to give the
accounting of all we have received and how we spent it. Know therefore
the value of your life and every single breath,
which should be for Allah."

AL-JALIL: The Majestic, The Mighty, The Sublime One

"He is the Lord of Majesty and Might. His knowledge, power, mercy,
generosity, wisdom and compassion is great;
He is source and owner of all attributes of greatness."

AL-KARIM: The Generous

"In His generosity He gives help, satisfying your needs before
you ask. His greatest generosity is in His mercy,
through which he forgives when He could punish."

AL-RAQIB: The Observer, The Watchful One

"He is the one who watches everything, always.
In addition to Him, the loving merciful watcher,
there are two other watchers.......deadly enemies.......
who ask to harm you and watch you to find a weak spot:
the accursed Devil and the insatiable egoist, the nafs.
You must be well aware of these enemies and watch their moves."

AL-MUJIB: The Acceptor of Prayer, or The Responsive

"He responds to all the prayers or needs of His servants.
He is closer to His creatures than they are to themselves."